sunset from behind the wire

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Genuine News

Here are a few bits and pieces that you won't hear about in the New York Times on CNN or MSNBC because it doesn't fit their narrative.

ObamaCare Follies

(Washington Examiner) A majority of online and social media defenders of Obamacare are professionals who are "paid to post," according to a digital expert.

"Sixty percent of all the posts were made from 100 profiles, posting between the hours of 9 and 5 Pacific Time," said Michael Brown. "They were paid to post."

Click the link above for more details.

And this link below underscores what I count as wisdom to have made the decision to leave California. I doubt that it will pass because the legislature won't be able to find the $40 billion to pay for it --- but the thought is unsettling.

(Washington Examiner) With congressional Republicans working to end Obamacare, California will consider going it alone and instituting a statewide single-payer health insurance system.

State Sen. Ricardo Lara introduced a bill Friday that would make California the first state to adopt a single-payer system, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Single-payer bills made it through the state's legislature in 2006 and 2008 but were vetoed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Under such a system, the government essentially becomes the health insurer, sidelining private insurance companies and dictating coverage.

"More than ever, we know that universal healthcare is popular in the minds of Californians," Lara told the Times.

The Stock Market

I don't know if the DJI will pass 21,000 this week, but the market has created roughly $3 trillion since Donald Trump was elected. The elite, corrupt, smug, mainstream media write this off as a 'hiccup' that they try to explain away the meteoric rise in confidence in traditionally pessimistic economic markets. It doesn't matter whether or not you own stock. The boom benefits us all.

News of toy makers returning manufacturing to the US from China, Intel bringing 10,000 jobs to Phoenix and auto plants opening in Michigan and elsewhere should be headlines, but they're not because the progressive, self-satisfied, elite mainstream media has other political plans and they don't include giving out good news that would encourage the GOP.

Following the Money

The elite mainstream media is not a monolithic group. It consists of many like-minded billionaires, each with a slightly different goal and plenty of money to pursue it. Sadly, you don't see many of them promoting a drained swamp in Washington DC. That's primarily because they have benefited in a massive way from the swamp, political pay-offs and kick-backs. They hire the K Street lobbyists and they drop bags of cash on the desks of lawmakers. It's been a sweet hustle, and they do not want to see that come to an end.

It's not just George Soros (diagram left) or Jeff Bezos who owns Amazon.com, the Washington Post and has a $600 million contract with the CIA for cloud computing. The legion is vast and none of them have your best interests at heart.

While in Mexico I had a lunch conversation with a very senior member of the Mexican Government and he was mystified why the meeting that Carlos Slim had with President Trump didn't soften the American view of Mexico. I said, "Carlos Slim owns a majority share in the New York Times and all it does is print lies about him." My friend chewed down his bite of steak, took a slug of red wine and said, "well that makes sense, doesn't it?" He said it in Spanish, but you get the picture.

The Second Amendment

Retina Scans

Within a year or two, we should see retina scans at airports as part of the security process. (more here) It's in the beta test mode but it's a more certain way of identifying people and matching people to travel credentials. If you're upset about all this drama - thank a Muslim.

I'm no happier about this and DNA than anyone else is, but it's the future, it's coming and we will all have to live with it.

I'm documented from here to next Thursday because of what I've done for a living including Global Entry/Sentri, etc. and I don't fear it, but I'm not comfortable with it either. It's just one more brick in the wall. Though I don't think that there will be much retinal scanning done up on Arizona's Mogollon Rim.

That's my thought - at least decades. How many people have grown up without hearing a news program. They hear propaganda from the corrupt, elite, progressive, smug, divisive mainstream media and are told that it passes for "news".

Paul Krugman, a Nobel laureate, and Mark Cuban, a gazillionaire, both said with rock ribbed confidence that if Donald Trump were elected, the stock market would tank. Krugman took it a step farther and predicted that the stock market would not only tank, it would never recover.

Both of these numbnuts couldn't have been more wrong. The stock market has taken off like a rocket. Next time either of these dick heads predict something will go well, short that something's stock. You can't miss.

They need to be walled off into parts of the country where they can't do much damage. Wherever it is, we know that they'll destroy the environment. The Indians won't tolerate them after Standing Rock. The Hawaiians would think it's cool for about a week.

All good points! And one of the PITAs with retinal scan is there can't be anything to 'interrupt' the scan, so if you're a contact lens wearer, you'll have to take at least one out. THAT is going to be interesting... sigh

> an out-of-control diabeticIf you're an out-of-control diabetic, civil liberties, erosion thereof, are nowhere near your biggest problem, alas. Diabetes mellitus is not just a "sugar disease" but rather a systemic problem that disrupts normal endothelial function (the lining of blood vessels) and dramatically increases risk of stroke, heart attack, renal failure, etc etc etc. DM type2 is also largely (pun unintended) a disease that one gives to one's self via obesity. Sorry for the rant, but DM2 has horrible effects on individuals, and costs society a metric $#!t ton of money healthcare-wise.

As to biometrics, apparently they can extract useful DNA from feces. I propose, facetiously*, that we each provide a fresh, steaming stool sample to the friendly (I crack myself up) boys and girls in their size XXL blue uniforms (talk about set ups for type2 diabetes) at airport screening.

*NSA types: this is sarcasm; neither a serious proposal nor a call to action. Also, "facetious" in the context of poop. Heh.

I'd be willing to bring a hot steaming sample with me to the airport because I'm a good citizen and want to participate in screening. It would make the discussion in line a whole lot more interesting. "So what undigested items are in your sample?"

So I gather from random bits here and there in your posts/comments that you are about to deprive California of one of its last remaining sane intellectuals?This must have been announced while I was MIA. Did the neighborhood mosque grow too unbearable??

Housekeeping

As of January 1, 2017 this blog began to receive anonymous posts. I try not to delete them, but if you want to be taken seriously here, you need to identify yourself, if only by some sort of cryptonym.

Welcome to Virtual Mirage

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the cat. "We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad," asked Alice?

"You must be," said the cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

Good Morning

Virtual Mirage - What's on the other side of the mirror? Ask Alice how deep the rabbit hole really goes.

This blog is an extension of MY JOURNEY because sometimes my journey needs more explanation, and sometimes there is more to be said than can be expressed on one ordinary blog.

Sometimes it's politics (very serious), sometimes I address the human condition with a dose of humor, and other times it may seem as if the track is headed in a unique direction. I can be a complicated guy at times.

There are a few things you'll find I consider:

* Absence of proof is not proof of absence.

* Sometimes the questions are complex but the answers are simple.

* Love is the only condition where the happiness of another person is essential to your own.

* Steers do not sign treaties with meat packers. (think on that)

* Taxes are NEVER levied for the benefit of the taxed.

* The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no victory possible in defense.

WHITE POWDER (Novel)

There is something intoxicating about a secret.

THE OLD WHORE (NOVEL)

In the peculiar culture of the Central Intelligence Agency, "old whores" are people who will do whatever it takes to get the job done, irrespective of the cost.

EXILES FROM EDEN (NOVEL)

Sparks fly as two star-crossed lovers meet. He runs toward trouble as she yearns for something missing. And it ends in a flight from and toward justice.

About Me

Today, I balance work and play as much as anyone can. All things remaining equal, play is more important. Life is short - it's important to make every day count for something, if only to yourself.
I'm a former tinker/tailor/soldier/sailor who has now decided that maybe it really wasn't all done for nothing.

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